Defense of Hill 781 (8 page)

Always had to make a decision. Neither option—an attack
through CP 1 or one through CP 4—was a sure thing. One thing was sure, though—an attack through CP 2 was out of the question. It was a kill zone that had already decimated one company. He could ill afford to risk another in the attempt. Yet he still knew nothing of CP 4. His inclination was to mass forces, but by putting all of his eggs in one basket he risked abject failure. His mission was to take Objective BLUE, and he had to take it, even if it meant heavy losses. On that note he hedged his bet. Charlie Company and the approximately one remaining mounted platoon of Bravo would move in behind the scouts and engineers at CP 4. Bravo’s dismounts would continue to work up the draw north of CP 2. Delta Company would reinforce A Company as they worked into the valley beyond CP 1. Artillery priority went to Alpha, where there was known enemy. Mortars would give what support they could to Baker and his infantry. Always would move up with D Company to the northern effort. Carter had command of the effort at CP 4.

It took Always about ten minutes to pass the requisite orders, complicated by his having to shift back and forth to secure. He stifled his anger at Baker, who had implied the obstacle at CP 2 was down, but resolved to make it clear later that whether or not ground troops had personally passed through an obstacle was irrelevant. It only mattered that they had reduced the obstacle so that the heavy forces could follow them through. That had been a momentous blunder, but Always realized that he himself was not above reproach in confusing the issue.

The fight now turned into a battle of attrition. By the time the task force commander had made it up to CP 1, the scouts and engineers had found the expected obstacle at CP 4. It took them ten minutes to reduce it, and in the process more than 50 percent of the engineer platoon was killed or wounded. The scouts who picked up the mission of clearing the enemy infantry in and around the obstacle also suffered heavily; thereafter, they lost their capacity to dismount. Once the obstacle was clear,
the tanks and Bradleys under Carter could advance only with great care; dug-in infantry armed with antitank weapons guarded the slopes of both sides of the narrow valleys and had to be eliminated methodically before the armor could proceed. Without dismounted infantry this became an excruciatingly slow process. It was two hours before Objective BLUE was reached from that direction.

In the center, Baker brought up the majority of his infantry, moving cautiously and without adequate fire support. The air force liaison officer, who had missed the orders passed by Always over the radio (throughout the fight he was alternately on and off the net), brought in an air strike about 0830 along what he still believed to be the main axis of advance from CP 2 to CP 3. He had heard the fighting from his position in the vicinity of Hill 826, which he had valiantly climbed under fire, but assumed that U.S. troops were buttoned up inside their armor-protected vehicles. This assumption cost Baker 20 percent of the remainder of his infantrymen, lost to friendly air, although it also inflicted heavy damage on the enemy infantry. By this time, with no armored threat along this approach, the enemy had shifted the majority of his tanks and BMPs back to Objective BLUE. Baker’s progress was slowed by his heavy casualties, but he pressed on to the objective, gradually linking up with Carter southeast of CP 3.

The main attack of Alpha and Delta companies became a drawn-out battle through the pass south of Hill 785. Blinded by an approach that took them directly into the morning sun, the attackers suffered a major disadvantage. Nonetheless, aggressive tactics and good gunnery brought the exchange ratio about even. A major setback occurred, however, when enemy air struck at about 0900. In the confusion of the morning’s movements, the air defense platoon, which had never been directly attached to any specific company and, therefore, had failed to put its radios on any commander’s net save that of the task force, had
not kept up with the forward elements of the attack. With the vehicle-mounted antiaircraft guns too far back, and with the missile teams killed in the dawn artillery barrage, the enemy air force had virtually free rein over the main attack. Only the Bradleys, with their superior tracking ability, were able to threaten the fast movers. But all they did was threaten, and five tanks and three Bradleys were destroyed before the enemy ran out of ammunition and pulled away.

By 1000 Always’ task force had converged on the edges of Objective BLUE, driving back the enemy before its massed firepower. By this time only C Company was relatively intact. E Company was the next best off, but Always, in his confusion, had neglected to give explicit orders to Evans. He therefore elected to follow the main attack over Axis WHITE and through CP 1. Here the terrain restricted his ability to bring fire on the enemy’s armor. By the time he did deploy on Objective BLUE, the enemy had decided to make their escape to the northeast.

By 1045 Always could report in to Brigade that he had taken Objective BLUE and was reconsolidating for a possible enemy counterattack. More than 50 percent of his combat vehicles and 80 percent of his infantry had been knocked out of action. His engineer platoon had been annihilated, and his scouts were in rough shape. A resolute counterattack would have been hard to defeat, and at the moment Always was hardly in a position to continue attacking. His medical support was severely overstretched, and two medic tracks had been knocked out in the fighting. Only his combat service support was in good shape, husbanded with great care by his XO, who brought it forward as soon as the ground was secure in order to refuel and rearm the combat forces.

As the medic put seven stitches in the gash over Always’ eye, the colonel reflected on the mess he had made of things. Just then Lieutenant Colonel Drivon, the evaluator, drove up in his jeep.

“Well A. Tack, how do you feel?” This was obviously Drivon’s best effort at being friendly, addressing Always by his first name.

“I feel fine, thank you. How are you?” Always was not about to admit anything.

Ignoring the question Drivon issued instructions for the time and place of the after-action review of the operation. All of the task force commanders and principal staff would report to a designated grid location at 1230. The battalion could expect to receive their next mission within the hour. Only those forces that could be reconstituted would be available for the next mission.

“What about my dead and wounded?” Always asked. “After all, they were dead to begin with.”

“If you report your dead and request replacements, we resurrect them at midnight. If you treat and evacuate your wounded, we heal them and send them back to the replacement system. It’s up to you to get them back to the front. The equipment works more or less the same way. If a tank or Bradley has been blown apart, we’ll see you get replacements if you work the system. If it just needs repairs, then you’ve got to do it. No free lunch here, you know. Little bumps and bruises, like your face there—well, you just have to live with that, so to speak.” Drivon cleverly concealed any sympathy he might have for Always.

“Okay. Thanks. I’ll get my people up to you at 1230.”

The next few hours were hectic. Always called a hasty meeting with his S-3 and his XO to arrange for the reconstitution of the battalion. The order to continue the attack to the northeast the following morning arrived around 1200. Always had time only to look at the map, give some very general instructions, and pass on a warning order to the companies. By that time he had to leave for the review session along with his entire staff and all his commanders. The assistant S-3 was left in charge of the planning. At every level assistants would have to do yeoman
work to get the battalion back on its feet in time for the morning attack.

The observers had gone to great lengths to make the review site difficult to find, putting it deep in a ravine. But the task force leaders found it, squeezed their tired and smelly bodies into the briefing van, and listened to what the observers had to say. Although the graphic descriptions of the errors stung, they were in every case accurate. At appropriate moments particularly glaring errors were played back on voice recordings and videotapes. There was a great shot of Always’ face, bleeding and dazed, peering out of his Bradley into the destruction of B Company at CP 2, followed by the tape of Captain Baker reporting that he was through the obstacle. No one chuckled.

When it was over, some two excruciating hours later, Lieutenant Colonel Drivon and his team left the van at the disposal of Always and his men. The commander took advantage of the opportunity to make a little speech to his men, a speech that avoided apology or accusation but did not deny failure. He praised the commanders and their men for their resoluteness in the face of the enemy, and rededicated their mutual effort to figuring out where they went wrong and putting it right. With that done he dismissed the group and headed back toward his headquarters. It would be dark in four hours, and there was much work to be done.

On the drive back Always mulled over the lessons he had learned during the preceding twenty-four hours:

Intelligence is the building block of the order. Don’t expect it from higher headquarters. Build it from the bottom up, and make it specific. Get the scouts out early, and leave them where they can tell the commander what’s going on. At the same time, defeat the enemy reconnaissance effort. Blind him. Don’t let him get a fix on you.

Get the special staff under control. The artillery officer
and the air liaison officer are too critical to let them get out of touch. Put them in your pocket and keep them there. Have the chemical officer talk to the intelligence officer. If the winds are not right, don’t use smoke. If you can blind the enemy and retain your own freedom of movement, use all the smoke you can get.

Use every available minute to get things focused on the central mission. Alert the subordinate elements as soon as you have an indication of the upcoming mission. Get the staff in motion quickly, but keep them on track. Update as intelligence gives you a better picture. Don’t worry about picture-perfect written orders. What orders you do give, make clear. Above all, get your intention across to every key subordinate, then make sure they get it passed on to their subordinates, and so on down the line. When you give the order, do so at a place and in a manner that facilitates understanding of the mission. Key ground overlooking the battle area is probably the best place to do that. Leave your subordinates plenty of time to do their own reconnaissance and planning.

Put yourself at the critical place. A picture is worth a thousand words. If you can’t be at the critical place, make sure you understand what the guy there is telling you. Ask the critical questions. Don’t be pressured into making a hasty decision, but don’t equivocate either. When you do make a major shift, ensure everybody gets the word. Don’t assume that they will. Hold someone accountable for informing them.

Take care of the engineers and the air defense units. Husband them, protect them, and give them clear and specific orders. When it suits the mission, put them under control of a subordinate commander, then hold him accountable for them. When you have to retain them under task force control, have them under tight hold, but don’t stifle their initiative. Get the air defense missile teams under some armor protection,
probably right with the company commander they’re protecting.

Coordinate your combat power. Bring the mass of the tanks and Bradleys together at the point of main effort. Coordinate that effort with the infantrymen. Cover them with artillery and mortar fire. Don’t give the enemy room to escape. Cut him off, overrun him, and annihilate him.

Get the radio net under control. Everybody has got to be in instant communication with everybody else. Get the commanders to talk to each other, over the task force net if no other way is possible”

The list went on, from the grand to the small, but at that point the jeep pulled into the TOC set up on Objective BLUE. It was time for Always to turn his attention to the next mission. His jeep driver gave him a wide smile and a salute as the colonel stepped out. “There’s a good soldier,” the commander thought to himself.

CHAPTER 3
Change of Mission